Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC with me, Manuel Saragossa.

Coming up, Italy is going rogue with a defiant message for the European Union.

It's our money and we'll spend what we want to.

We are going to do this because it's the right thing to do for our economy.

The European Commission reject our budget.

We will face the consequences.

Rome and Brussels look set to clash over the Italian government spending plans.

We ask what's at stake for the rest of the EU. That's all in business daily from the BBC.

The European Union is not happy with the new populist Italian government spending program for the next three years.

It doesn't like Rome's plans to lower the retirement age, cut taxes, invest in infrastructure and boost welfare.

Why? Well, because all of that will end up adding to Italy's already massive public

debt and the EU sets limits on how much a government can spend. Italy is already the most

indebted country in the Eurozone. Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic

and Financial Affairs, had this to say on CNBC TV a few days ago. I think the Italian government must tell the truth to the Italian.

That is more public expenditure that can make you popular for a while.

But then who pays in the end?

And with a very high debt, Italy is the country with an expansive stance.

So the Commission will exert all its powers not to impose austerity

because we are not pro-austerity, but just to have the defence of the Italian interest and

the European interests. But Rome is defiant. It won't budge. And that's spooking financial markets,

with the interest Italy pays on its government debt.

Going up, it's now significantly higher than what Germany pays because investors see Italy as a bigger risk.

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